Finally – a diary entry! This is going to be quite long, so don’t fall asleep!
The plan for Saturday was a lesson at 1030, which would involve going down (or up – northwards) the low level route, as I had never done it before, and I needed the practice for the QXC. The weather was glorious and before I knew it, the checks were complete and we were about to be airborne. I had planned to enter the low level route (from now on LLR) at Ashcroft Farm, a small grass strip, south east of Oulton Park – this would place us right in the middle of the route. Now, I always thought that you needed to speak to Manchester when flying the LLR AND get permission to transit it, but, apparently not – the rules do not suggest this at all. In fact, you can speak to Liverpool, and not make any request at all. Obviously, this is not the sensible way to do it, so the advice given to me was this: listen out on the Manchester frequency for a few minutes to determine whether or not they have the capacity to give you a FIS and help you along the LLR – as more than likely they will be handling lots of commercial traffic, and may not have time to help a tiny little spamcan about their way! If this were the case, then staying on Liverpool frequency would be the best bet. However, on our flight, Manchester did not seem busy, so we gave them a call and told them our intentions, and they happily gave us a service for our LLR. This was actually the first time I had spoke to Manchester, and it sounds corny, but I was really pleased, having gone on holiday as a kid for so many years at Manchester, it was great to be talking to the controllers there.
Onwards through the LLR my instructor pointed out all the features – and there are tonnes of them. As long as you know the boundaries of the Liverpool and Manchester zone, you cant go wrong, as long as you stay below 1,250 feet. The flight was going really well and I could relate the features to the chart reasonably well, which is a good thing! As we left the LLR, we had a bout 20 minutes to play with (I had booked an hour so why not use it up!). So, I went and found my girlfriend’s house in Wigan (T’Wigun!!) and gave it a buzz – we had climbed by now so I was practising some steep turns. We then moved over to Ormskirk, to give my house a buzz, and also we didn’t want over fly the area in Wigan too much and annoy the people on the ground. It was good to do this as it was kind of a wind down to the flight – and even my instructor agreed that flying is supposed to be fun and enjoyable.
Now then, back in at Kirkby for a standard rejoin – here is where the fun starts. The entry to the zone and approach were as normal. The wind was coming from approximately 300 degrees which meant it was coming straight over the terminal buildings – at Liverpool this means a bumpy approach and possible sink over the numbers – today, this was making it’s presence. As we came down the approach seemed normal, as with the turbulence etc. However, as I got over the numbers, the aircraft sank rapidly and any back pressure on the controls would have resulted in an immediate stall – so a lot of power was needed, just to keep it level, then as the it levelled off, I reduced it again to touch it down gently. In all my landings so far, I have never experienced this, and have never had to use such power to recover, so it was a good experience.
Ok, so lesson over with – I learned a great deal today, especially about flying the LLR, and it has given me good stead for the dual QXC which is next.
Right then, on Thursday, Neil (DiscoChocolate) rang me and asked if I would like to fly to Sleap with him on Saturday (of which I naturally agreed) so I said that as soon as my lesson was over, I would pop next door to meet up. I contacted Whirlybird (as she flies a 150 from Sleap) and arranged to meet – it was then she told me that there was a fly-in at Tatenhill and that she would be there flying helicopter trial flights, so we changed our plans and decided to fly there instead. Neil and me planned to fly over Alton Towers as one of our checkpoints (the only checkpoint really). It was an absolutely glorious day, with odd clouds dotted here and there, which made for some amazing views. Anyhow, we got over Alton Towers (it was great to fly over here for the first time, having had family days out there every year) and practised some steep turns whilst we filmed below (we’ve got a cracking video). Then it was time to set up for the final leg and start looking for the airfield. A quick synch of the DI and before we knew it we could see our destination. So, now for the overhead join. We approached dead side to the right of the numbers, as not to conflict with any other traffic, and maintaining sufficient height. Then we turned left onto the circuit side, not yet descending. Then, as we got over the numbers once more, then began a descent onto the dead side, before finally joining the circuit. It was on final approach, when radio informed us of a landing competition, which involved landing before the yellow markers on the runway – I think we missed it by about 15 feet!
Flying to Tatenhill was brilliant – as this was our first ever fly in, and visit to the airfield. It was great to see all the GA aircraft parked on the grass, and upon opening the aircraft doors, could smell the BBQ on the go. We were greeted by Whirlybird, who as you can imagine, is a really nice lady – it was great to finally put a face to all the posts/wisdom on prune! Whirly showed us round the place and then into the R22/R44. I was really tempted to have a trial flight, but the cost was quite significant and my wallet was already getting thin, so Whirly, I promise that next time you can take me on a trial flight – in the R44 of course because the 22 is tiny – also, thanks for showing us around and giving us your time. A quick burger later, and we decided to check out the aircraft dotted around the place. I was amazed to see the Baltic Bear parked up, which for those who haven’t seen or heard it, is a huge silver biplane, and I had only just read about it the day before in Today’s Pilot, so it was great to see it there. We also had a flypast from a Jet Provost, which was really very good.
Time was not on our side, and we had to get the aircraft back for 1730 – so having said our goodbye’s we set off back to Liverpool, via Alton Towers once more for some steep turns and more filming. We now had a headwind, and it felt like we were hovering, I think it took us around 36 mins for the final leg. Neil wanted to practice a PFL, which he performed very well indeed. I must say that this is the first time I have flown with Neil, and given he is a new PPL, he is a very good pilot. He has very precise actions, and does everything smoothly and safely – looking forward to the next one.
So, to finish, the lesson was good and the fly-in was brilliant, I hope to visit many more to come, and it just reinforces my desire to pass the PPL. I have booked a week off work from bank holiday Monday onwards, in which I am booking in every day, hopefully to do the dual and solo QXC – not long to go now!
Thanks for reading this,
Lee
